Top 10 LGBT+ Music artists 2015

In alphabetical order

This category is for LGBT+ community’s favourite music artists and looked for musicians who are either LGBT+, or who have proven to be strong advocates of the LGBT+ community.

Adam Lambert

Adam Lambert is an American singer, songwriter, and stage actor. Adam rose to fame when he became the runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol. The Times identified Lambert as the first pop artist to be openly gay and launch a career on a major label in the U.S. His first album, released in 2009, has sold over two million copies worldwide. He received including a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2011. He has been a strong advocate for gay rights and has been presented with various awards from gay rights charities. He is outspoken on LGBT rights, saying “I still long for the LGBT community’s diversity to be more broadly represented in the entertainment industry. I think larger strides have been made in film and TV but we still are just at the beginning with mainstream music. I consider myself a post-gay man working in a pre-gay industry.”

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox is a 60-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist, who was one half of pop band, Eurythmics from the 1980s until 1992, when she went solo. She has sold over 80 million records worldwide, has a total of eight Brit Awards and was named the “Brits Champion of Champions” in 2008. Annie was appointed an OBE in 2011 for her “tireless charity campaigns and championing of humanitarian causes”.She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for AIDS and works with charities like, Oxfam, Amnesty International and the British Red Cross.

Boy George

53-year-old Boy George is an English singer-songwriter, DJ and author. Boy was the lead singer of pop band, Culture Club and has sold over 100 million singles and 50 million albums. He has a successful DJ career and has been a columnist for the Daily Express and the author of two bestselling autobiographies. He was also the co-producer, songwriter and on-stage star of the award-winning musical ‘Taboo’ on both New York’s Broadway and London’s West End. Boy supports charities such as AIDS Memorial Campaign and Children with AIDS.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is a 28-year-old American singer and songwriter. She rose to fame with her debut album, The Fame. Lady Gaga has global album and single sales of 27 million and 125 million, making her one of the best-selling artists of all time. Her achievements include six Grammy Awards, 13 MTV Video Music Awards and 13 Guinness World Records. She is an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights worldwide, who has worked with charities including the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Born This Way Foundation, GLSEN, the It Gets Better Project, the M.A.C AIDS Fund, and the Trevor Project, among others. She appeared at the National Equality March rally in 2009 and called it “the single most important event of her career.”

Olly Murs

Olly Murs is a 30-year-old English singer-songwriter, musician, and television presenter. Olly rose to fame after finishing as the runner-up in the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009. Since his first release in 2010, he has sold over 10 million records worldwide. He presented two series of television show The Xtra Factor. Olly has featured on the cover of Attitude and Out in the City magazines. He is the patron of children’s charity, Brainwave.

Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys are an English pop duo, formed of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who were established in 1981. Pet Shop Boys have been During their career, Pet Shop Boys have had 42 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart and won three Brit Awards and six Grammy nominations. They’ve sold more than 50 million records worldwide and are listed as the most successful duo in UK music history by The Guinness Book of Records. Neil Tennant came out as gay during an interview with Attitude magazine in 1994. Chris Lowe has not defined his sexual orientation, instead saying that there is only “[human] sexuality”, during a BBC Radio interview. They have been outspoken on gay rights, recently calling for the pardons for historic convictions of ‘gross indecency’ in the UK.

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus is a 22-year-old American singer, songwriter and actress. Miley rose to fame as the lead character in Disney Channel television series, Hannah Montana and has praised the Disney Channel for including same-sex marriage in their programming. Since her first release in 2006, Miley has had five non-consecutive number-one albums on the U.S. Billboard 200, has sold 15.9 million records and was ranked number thirteen on Forbes Celebrity 100 and the “Most Charted Teenager” in the 2011 Guinness World Records, with over twenty-nine Billboard Hot 100 entries. She is an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights and has an equality symbol tattooed on her middle finger in support of same-sex marriage. She has said that her favourite fans are her gay ones.

Sam Smith

Sam Smith is an English singer and songwriter. Sam rose to fame after being featured on the Disclosure song, Latch. Before releasing his debut single and album in 2014. He has since been won over 15 awards for his work, including 4 Grammys.Sam came out as gay in 2014 during an interview with The Fader. During an interview on the Ellen Degeneres Show, he said, “It didn’t feel like a coming out … I came out when I was, like, four years old… My mom said she knew when I was, like, three, so I didn’t have to actually properly come out.”